Another NASCAR go-round

As in Marysville, plans for racetrack in Kitsap County face scrutiny

By JENNIFER LANGSTON, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Updated 10:00 pm, Monday, January 2, 2006

Photo: Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Roni Brook works the pool table at Bethel Saloon in Port Orchard recently. The owner of the saloon, Dan Stewart, and many patrons support building a NASCAR track in Kitsap County. But state Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, sees no state need "to invest in a white elephant." less

Roni Brook works the pool table at Bethel Saloon in Port Orchard recently. The owner of the saloon, Dan Stewart, and many patrons support building a NASCAR track in Kitsap County. But state Sen. Margarita ... more

Photo: Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Aaron Johnson of Bremerton chops up an old pickup camper shell at property put up for sale at state Route 3 and Southwest Lake Flora Road. The lot was put up for sale partly because of plans for a NASCAR track to be built adjacent to the home. less

Aaron Johnson of Bremerton chops up an old pickup camper shell at property put up for sale at state Route 3 and Southwest Lake Flora Road. The lot was put up for sale partly because of plans for a NASCAR track ... more

Photo: Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Cars whiz by on state Route 3 at the Kitsap-Mason County line, near the proposed site of the NASCAR track.

Cars whiz by on state Route 3 at the Kitsap-Mason County line, near the proposed site of the NASCAR track.

Photo: Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Abandoned, wrecked vehicles border the property in Kitsap County where the track would be built. Some worry that traffic congestion would be horrendous.

Abandoned, wrecked vehicles border the property in Kitsap County where the track would be built. Some worry that traffic congestion would be horrendous.

Photo: Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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A road cuts through wooded property in Kitsap County where a proposed NASCAR racetrack may be built.

A road cuts through wooded property in Kitsap County where a proposed NASCAR racetrack may be built.

Photo: Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Another NASCAR go-round

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BELFAIR, Mason County -- Since Frank Kenny launched a chainsaw-art business south of this timber town, he's noticed people aren't always proud to claim it as home.

College kids rarely return to the economically depressed spot. "For Lease" signs hang in empty storefronts and on roadside snack trucks painted like the American flag.

"Why does only Seattle deserve to have a couple of stadiums?" asked the owner of Kenny's Northwest Experience, a coffee shop, art gallery and carving school eight miles south of the Kitsap County speedway site. "The state would be foolish not to grab it."

But the proposal that legislators are expected to consider in the upcoming session will have to overcome deep and widespread suspicion about using public dollars to finance another sports complex.

Florida-based International Speedway Corp. has proposed to roughly split the cost of a $345 million motor sports racetrack with a public speedway authority, which would essentially use a slice of state sales tax revenue collected in Mason, Kitsap and Pierce counties to pay back construction bonds.International Speedway has an option to buy about 950 acres south of the Bremerton Airport. It abandoned a site in Marysville a year ago after it proved too expensive.If the racetrack company's financial projections are correct, the state's $166 million investment would be more than repaid by new money that out-of-town racing fans spend on hotels, gas, headphones and hot dogs.

"You're not going to pay a red cent for this unless you choose to attend a race," said Van Vlist, a NASCAR booster and president of Dick Vlist Motors in Port Orchard.

But if those spending estimates turn out to be wrong -- either because NASCAR's meteoric popularity wanes or the area doesn't get top-tier races -- taxpayer dollars that would have been used for education or roadwork across the state could be funneled to pay back speedway debt for decades.

Key state legislators, who would have to approve the deal and create the speedway authority, say they've seen little support for it so far.

"Their assumption that we would be willing to fork over for half -- do they really think we're such hayseeds?" At the Bethel Saloon in south Kitsap County, decorated with inflatable stockcars and antique cans of Olympia motor oil, owner Dan Stewart said he'd love to have a speedway nearby.

But the NASCAR fan doubts that using public dollars to finance the racetrack will fly. "They want it, we want it, but sales tax -- it isn't gonna go around here," he said.

Critics say the Florida-based company doesn't seem to understand the Herculean task of moving 80,000 race goers per event to a peninsula served by ferries, bridges and two-lane roads.

Races will likely be held on summer weekends, also the most popular times for tourists and vacation homeowners on the Hood Canal to visit.

"The people who are waiting for the ferries will be backed up all over Seattle," said Helen Punches of the newly formed Coalition for Healthy Economic Choices in Kitsap. That citizens group, CHECK, wants the county to explore other businesses opportunities that wouldn't expect such subsidies.

International Speedway and its subsidiary, Great Western Sports Inc., has hired a consultant that's handled Super Bowls, the Olympics and a presidential inauguration to develop a traffic plan that uses buses, shuttles, ferries and park-and-ride lots, officials say.

Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, who represents the affected area, believes the 1.2-mile oval speedway would be beneficial for the state.

But comments from his constituents have been running 2-to-1 against public financing.

He'd like to see the speedway company build the facility on its own dime, as it has proposed to do in New York. Here, the state potentially could chip in to upgrade infrastructure.

"It's hard to convince my constituents that taxpayers in New York won't have any financial obligation but taxpayers in my district would," he said. "That's a hard sell."

Tourism boost for Seattle

Grant Lynch, vice president of International Speedway, is certain Washington residents won't end up footing the bill.

The company predicts that over 25 years, the speedway authority would collect $43 million more in taxes from racing fans than it would need to pay back bonds. Some economists point out, however, that it's difficult to project that far into the future with such accuracy.

Lynch said the payback to the state is likely to be greater. The economic projections don't include revenue from non-race day events, such as driving schools or revenue from spinoff businesses that might spring up.

Local cities -- particularly Seattle -- would also profit from increased tourism. Cities in King County would see a tax benefit of $860,000 in the speedway's first year of operation, according to the company's economic analysis."It doesn't take any new taxes for this and, in fact, we're only talking about the out-of-state people paying for this," Lynch said.

The company also has boosted the funding it's willing to contribute. It had offered to pay only $50 million for the Marysville speedway -- a deal that fell apart in November 2004 after cost estimates to develop the site escalated.

Local politicians who'd aggressively pursued the speedway backed off, saying the public was being asked to assume too much risk.

The ultimate responsibility for the racetrack's debt would depend on how a deal is structured, bond experts and state officials say. So far, no government has agreed to guarantee the speedway authority's bonds and put taxpayers on the hook in case of a default.

That would be unlikely unless the region's entire economy takes a turn for the worse, experts say. But if the speedway alone fails to perform, sales tax that residents now pay on everything from Christmas presents to coffee might be siphoned off to repay the 25-year bonds.

But they're based on informed assumptions -- such as how many people will attend or how much they'll spend on food -- that are impossible to nail with 100 percent accuracy.

"We've looked this over closely and tried to be as conservative as possible because we're dealing with ... taxpayers' money," Schmidt said. "But there's a lot of risks in these kind of things, and there's a lot of assumptions and none of that is carved in stone."

'These things can be solved'

The proposal faces a tough road in the Legislature. A half-dozen lawmakers who represent affected areas or chair key committees said they aren't convinced that the gamble makes sense.

They also haven't seen a groundswell of support -- among legislators or the public.

"With something as major as this, there should be someone out there pounding the drum," said Rep. Patricia Lantz, D-Gig Harbor.

"It takes someone stepping into the lead, and at this point I don't have any clue who it would be."

Even if the revenue projections are credible, Lantz said, that's only half the equation.

Without a detailed study of the transportation and environmental impacts, the costs to local and state governments can't be figured.

For instance, with speedway fans projected to fill nearly half of the hotel rooms in the region on race weekends -- and 90 percent of the rooms in Kitsap County -- some question how much revenue would be lost from tourists and second-homeowners who avoid the area entirely.

International Speedway's Lynch countered that convention centers don't shy away from attracting lucrative conventions and cities don't turn down Super Bowls just because they fall during busy tourist seasons.

Some residents also fear fans will be so frustrated by the peninsula's traffic and inadequate roads sandwiched between cliffs and shorelines that they simply won't come back after their first race.

"If you're down here in the summer, you can't get in and out of town. It's a mess," said Pat Collins, a Belfair-area resident who drives past the speedway site each day to his job at the Port Orchard Wal-Mart.

Lynch said there isn't much that can be done to alleviate congestion for a few hours on race days for residents who live near the speedway. It's similar to having a house near Husky Stadium, he said.

But he said the broader transportation challenges are manageable with buses, ferries and some road-widening projects.Kenny, the Belfair chainsaw-art entrepreneur, agrees that the logistical issues can be worked out.

Finding the political support and economic foresight to try is a different question.

"All these things can be solved," he said. "It just takes the will of the people and the Legislature."